knafelc,

Thanks for the advice but I guess each situation is a little different.  "Walking" actually aggravates my problem.  My sciatic nerve "pinch" is most pronounced when I stand erect (a bone spur locks into a bad place).  That & any serious pounding my feet might do both inflame what little shock absorber material that remains in & around the disks in my lower back are the main culprits.  Running is actually slightly easier for me due to the slightly bent posture (less pressure from bone spur).

You're right about core strength & upper body strength helping matters; I work on both almost everyday.  Even though I am heavier than I've ever been, I can do more (legit) pull-ups than I've ever done in my life.  Even so, I still have bad days the best exercise I am able to do (and I ALWAYS do at least an hour & one-half per day) is on a recumbent stationary bike.  After a few days doing non-standing exercise & enough doses of Aleve, I generally recover enough to go back to regular routines.

**********

Hey, I DO have a personal story on "natural" healing processes that might be worth something to someone out there.

So, many years ago I came down with the absolute worst case of Planters Warts on the bottom of my feet that anyone has ever seen.  Many dozens of the doggone things on both feet.  I tried pills, ointments, & about every non-prescription remedy available at the drug store.  Then I went the doctor route.  More pills, lotions, etc... everything short of surgery.  Then I bust my ankle playing basketball and the podiatrist convinces me that, since I laid-up anyway, I should let him just cut the danged things off.  So I do that... and nearly bleed to death (but that is a separate story that my wife tells better than I do).

So, I do ALL of the above but the ugly things STILL come back and in greater numbers!  I felt like a 13th century plague victim & began wondering if maybe the warts were the first stages of leprosy or something worse.

THEN, somebody steers me to a nationally-known dermatologist.  I repeat my saga of woe to him.  He say "Hmmmm..." and scratches his beard in meditative thought.  "Those are the exact same things I would have tried", he says.  "Looks like we've got to go with Plan B."

The doc calls his nurse into the office and asks me one simple question: "Are you allergic to poison ivy?"

My simple answer was: "Hell yes!"

He replied, "Good!"  Then he instructs Nurse Jane to "grab the brown bottle", which she does & hands it to him.  Then the doc starts lathering my feet with this dark brown fluid.

"What's up, Doc?"

"I'm giving you a very mild case of poison ivy, young man."

"The hell you say!" says I.  "I get that crap really bad!!"

"Well, that's probably a good thing and, yes, I am," he states & proceeds to inform me that - in about 50% of the cases - persons who are allergic to poison ivy will LOSE THEIR WARTS when their body deals with the poison ivy.  "We don't exactly know WHY it works but it does often work," he concludes.

About one week later my warts - the plague of my life for 2-3 years - were completely gone.  They have been gone ever since.

Moral of the story: if you have a bad case of Planters Warts, consider going straight to "Plan B" on your own.  You might just save yourself a $200 doctor visit by simply walking barefoot through a local patch of poison ivy.


Jimbo   8-)